Angels Look to Lackey For Game 1 of ALCS

John Lackey will start Friday night's Game 1 of the ALCS against CC Sabathia and the Yankees, getting the nod from Manager Mike Scioscia on Wednesday.

Lackey pitched 7 1/3 innings to lead Los Angeles to a 5-0 win over the Boston Red Sox in Game 1 of the division series. The right-hander is 3-3 with a 3.02 ERA in 12 career postseason games.

"It's a fun atmosphere, for sure," Lackey said. "It's the same as the last round. It helps to win the first game, but the importance is probably a little bit less in a seven-game series, especially being on the road. It'll be a challenge the whole series. They're a great team." Lackey was 11-8 with a 3.83 ERA after missing the first 33 games because of a forearm strain. He got Los Angeles off to a great start in the first round of the playoffs, allowing just four singles against Boston.

"When John is on that mound, he competes as well as anybody I've seen," Scioscia said of the eight-year veteran, who won Game 7 of the 2002 World Series as a rookie.

Lackey was 3-3 with a 3.76 ERA at the old Yankee Stadium and has yet to pitch in the new park -- which is much more conducive to home runs. The right-hander gave up 17 in his 27 starts this season.

Left-hander Joe Saunders will start Game 2 against A.J. Burnett on Saturday. Jered Weaver, the Angels' Game 2 pitcher in their sweep of the Red Sox, will face Andy Pettitte when the series shifts to Anaheim on Monday for Game 3.

Scott Kazmir, acquired Aug. 28 from Tampa Bay, will start Game 4 in Anaheim -- most likely against Sabathia.

Rizzo Making Moves

The Washington Nationals have made significant progress in restocking their depleted front office, hiring Roy Clark as their new assistant general manager and promoting Kris Kline as their new scouting director, according to a source. The team could make the announcements official on Thursday.

Kline, who was already with the Nationals as their assistant director of scouting, will take over the position vacated by Dana Brown. Earlier this week, Brown took a job with the Toronto Blue Jays.

Clark becomes the first significant outside hire made by General Manager Mike Rizzo. Clark was the longtime director of scouting for the Atlanta Braves, finishing up his 11th year in the position. But he joined the Braves in 1989 as an area scout, and has ties to Washington team President Stan Kasten, the longtime president in Atlanta.

Also on Wednesday, the Nationals hired Johnny DiPuglia as their new Latin American operations director, charging him with the substantial task of rebuilding the team's international scouting system.

DiPuglia's hiring, first reported by SI.com, represents a small coup for Rizzo, according to sources familiar with Latin American scouting. DiPuglia, who coordinated Latin American scouting for the Boston Red Sox, is well respected within international baseball circles, and has been dealing with Dominican-based scouting since 1995.

The team is beginning to recover from the Esmailyn González scandal that decimated their international operations.